Tag: incident

Five U.S. Marines were missing after two Marine Corps aircraft collided in mid-air and crashed into the sea off the coast of Japan on Thursday, in what U.S. officials said may have been a refueling exercise gone wrong. A series of emergency landings and parts falling from U.S. military aircraft have highlighted safety concerns. The Marine Corps said in a statement the incident occurred around 2 a.m. local time in Japan (1700 GMT Wednesday) about 200 miles off the Japanese coast. The two aircraft

Five U.S. Marines were missing after two Marine Corps aircraft collided in mid-air and crashed into the sea off the coast of Japan on Thursday, in what U.S. officials said may have been a refueling exercise gone wrong.

Japan’s defense ministry said its maritime forces had so far found two of the seven Marines who were aboard the aircraft — an F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet and KC-130 Hercules — at the time of the incident.

One was in a stable condition at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, while the second had been found about 10 hours after the collision and brought aboard a Japanese military vessel, the ministry said. No other details about the second Marine were known, a ministry spokesman said.

Search and rescue efforts for the remaining five continued.

The incident adds to a growing list of U.S. military aviation accidents around the world in recent years, prompting hearings in Congress to address the rise.

The Military Times reported earlier this year that aviation accidents jumped nearly 40 percent from fiscal years 2013 to 2017. At least 133 service members were killed in those incidents, it said.

U.S. military accidents are a sensitive topic in Japan, particularly for residents of the southern prefecture of Okinawa, which is home to the bulk of the U.S. presence in the country. A series of emergency landings and parts falling from U.S. military aircraft have highlighted safety concerns.

“The incident is regrettable, but our focus at the moment is on search and rescue,” Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya told a news conference. “Japan will respond appropriately once the details of the incident are uncovered.”

The Marine Corps said in a statement the incident occurred around 2 a.m. local time in Japan (1700 GMT Wednesday) about 200 miles off the Japanese coast.

The two aircraft had launched from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni and were conducting regular training when there was a “mishap,” the Marine Corps said.

The Marine Corps did not elaborate on the nature of the incident. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it occurred during a refueling exercise.

Officials who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity were unsure precisely how the mishap occurred but none suspected foul play. An investigation has begun.

Ukraine is responsible for provoking a dispute with Russia in which the federation seized several Ukrainian ships on Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday. “This is a dirty game within the country (Ukraine),” Putin said, addressing an audience of business people and investors at VTB Bank’s ‘Russia Calling’ investment forum in Moscow. “It is a provocation initiated by the current authorities, and I think by the (Ukrainian) president, in light of the upcoming elections to be held

Ukraine is responsible for provoking a dispute with Russia in which the federation seized several Ukrainian ships on Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday.

“This is a dirty game within the country (Ukraine),” Putin said, addressing an audience of business people and investors at VTB Bank’s ‘Russia Calling’ investment forum in Moscow.

“It is a provocation initiated by the current authorities, and I think by the (Ukrainian) president, in light of the upcoming elections to be held next year… The incident in the Black Sea happened, it is a border incident, no more,” he said. Ukraine had used the incident as a pretext to introduce martial law, he said.

Putin’s comments come after Russia ramped up its dispute with Ukraine on Sunday when it seized three Ukrainian navy vessels and their crew members in the Kerch Strait, a channel of water that links the Sea of Azov and Black Sea and one that’s crucial for both nations’ economies.

Ukraine said the incident was an “act of aggression,” while Russia said the ships had entered its territorial waters illegally, an allegation Putin repeated. Both sides accuse the other of violating the conditions of a 2003 treaty that enshrines free access to the Kerch Strait and Sea of Azov.

Putin said Wednesday that Ukraine’s action was “undoubtedly a provocation” designed to boost Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s popularity ratings ahead of a presidential election in March 2019.

Russia is still laboring under international sanctions for its 2014 annexation of Crimea and role (which it denies) in a pro-Russian uprising in the east of Ukraine the same year. Those sanctions, which target Russian individuals, entities and sectors separately, could be extended beyond the current expiry dates in 2019.

On Tuesday, Poroshenko warned that Russia would face serious consequences if it attacks Ukraine, telling NBC News that Moscow would pay a “huge price” if it did so.

Earlier Sunday, Russia and Ukraine traded accusations over another incident involving the same three vessels, prompting Moscow to block passage through the Kerch Strait. The Ukrainian vessels apparently wanted to travel through the strait to other ports in Ukraine, and Ukrainian authorities said they had given advance notice to the Russians. “Russian coast guard vessels … carried out openly aggressive actions against Ukrainian navy ships,” the Ukrainian navy statement said. It said a Russian c

The Ukrainian navy said Sunday that Russia’s coast guard opened fire on Ukrainian vessels in the Black Sea following a tense standoff off the coast of the Crimean Peninsula, wounding two crew members.

Russia didn’t immediately comment on the claims. Ukraine’s navy said that two of its vessels were struck and that Russian coast guard crews boarded them and a tugboat and seized them.

There have been growing tensions between Ukraine and Russia, which annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and has steadily worked to increase its zone of control around the peninsula.

Earlier Sunday, Russia and Ukraine traded accusations over another incident involving the same three vessels, prompting Moscow to block passage through the Kerch Strait.

The Ukrainian vessels apparently wanted to travel through the strait to other ports in Ukraine, and Ukrainian authorities said they had given advance notice to the Russians.

The tensions began Sunday morning. Russia’s coast guard said that the three Ukrainian vessels made an unauthorized crossing through Russian territorial waters, while Ukraine alleged that one of its boats was rammed by a Russian coast guard vessel.

The Kerch Strait is a narrow body of water nestled between Crimea and the Russian mainland.

The incident began after the Ukrainian navy claimed a Russian coast guard vessel rammed one of its tugboats, which was traveling with two Ukrainian navy artillery boats from Odessa on the Black Sea to Mariupol in the Sea of Azov, via the Kerch Strait.

The statement added that Russia had been informed in advance about the planned journey.

Russia then blocked off the strait.

The Kerch Strait is the only passage into the Sea of Azov beyond it. The strait is crossed by the recently completed Kerch Bridge, connecting Crimea to Russia. Transit under the bridge has been blocked by a tanker ship, and dozens of cargo ships awaiting passage are stuck.

Russia has not given any indication of how long it will keep the strait blocked off, but a long-term closure to civilian traffic would amount to an economic blockade of Ukrainian cities on the Azov coast. And Russia’s Black Sea Fleet greatly outmatches the Ukrainian navy.

Ukrainian cities on the Sea of Azov include strategically vital centers such as Mariupol — the closest government-controlled city to Donetsk and Luhansk, the breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russia-backed separatists.

Russia’s Federal Security Service, known as the FSB, told Russian news agencies Sunday after the first incident that the Ukrainian ships held their course and violated Russian territorial waters. The FSB accused the Ukrainian navy of staging a provocation against Russia.

“Their goal is clear,” an FSB statement said — “to create a conflict situation in the region.” The statement didn’t mention ramming a Ukrainian tugboat.

Though a 2003 treaty designates the Kerch Strait and Sea of Azov as shared territorial waters, Russia has been asserting greater control over the passage since 2015.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in an earlier statement that Russia’s actions were a violation of the U.N. Charter and international law, and pledged to “promptly inform our partners about Russia’s aggressive actions.”

“Such actions pose a threat to the security of all states in the Black Sea region,” the statement said, “and therefore require a clear response from the international community.”

Dmitry Kiselyov, a commentator on the state-controlled Rossiya channel, told viewers of his Sunday evening news program that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko — encouraged by the U.S. — is looking to pick a fight with Russia in the Black Sea.

The talk show host also said that the U.S. talked Poroshenko into staging a provocation against Russia as a means to disrupt the upcoming meeting between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump at this week’s Group of 20 summit in Argentina.

“What is happening now at the (Kerch) bridge threatens to turn into a very unpleasant story,” Kiselyov warned.

Shares of utility PG&E fell 25 percent on Wednesday after the company said that if its equipment is responsible for the “Camp Fire” burning in Northern California, the cost of the damage would exceed its insurance coverage and harm its financial health. That would “have a material impact on PG&E Corporation’s and the Utility’s financial condition, results of operations, liquidity, and cash flows.” PG&E, owner of Pacific Gas & Electric Co., said its subsidiary has drawn down $3 billion from its c

Shares of utility PG&E fell 25 percent on Wednesday after the company said that if its equipment is responsible for the “Camp Fire” burning in Northern California, the cost of the damage would exceed its insurance coverage and harm its financial health.

“While the cause of the Camp Fire is still under investigation, if the Utility’s equipment is determined to be the cause, the Utility could be subject to significant liability in excess of insurance coverage,” the company said in a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday. That would “have a material impact on PG&E Corporation’s and the Utility’s financial condition, results of operations, liquidity, and cash flows.”

PG&E, owner of Pacific Gas & Electric Co., said its subsidiary has drawn down $3 billion from its credit line in anticipation of a fire-related liability. At least 48 people have died in the fire and a record 7,600 homes and other structures have been destroyed, according to official estimates. Hundreds of people remain missing.

“With these borrowings, the entire credit facility has been drawn and PG&E now has $3.5 billion of cash on its balance sheet,” Citi analyst Praful Mehta wrote in a note Wednesday. “We think the primary driver could be a concern around a downgrade to a non-investment grade credit rating and the liquidity requirements as a result of the downgrade.”

Stormy Daniels’ lawyer Michael Avenatti has been arrested on suspicion of domestic violence, the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed Wednesday. The officials said officers in the West Los Angeles division took an incident report involving an allegation of domestic violence from an unidentified victim. In a statement from his law office, Avenatti denied ever being “physically abusive,” and called the felony allegation against him “completely bogus.” Avenatti’s wife, Lisa Storie-Avenatti, deni

Avenatti’s arrest was on a felony allegation, multiple senior law enforcement officials told NBC News. The sources said they expect Avenatti to be booked into a local jail later Wednesday evening. The officials said officers in the West Los Angeles division took an incident report involving an allegation of domestic violence from an unidentified victim.

In a statement from his law office, Avenatti denied ever being “physically abusive,” and called the felony allegation against him “completely bogus.”

“I wish to thank the hard working men and woman of the LAPD for their professionalism they were only doing their jobs in light of the completely bogus allegations against me,” he said. “I have never been physically abusive in my life nor was I last night. Any accusations to the contrary are fabricated and meant to do harm to my reputation. I look forward to being fully exonerated.”

Avenatti’s wife, Lisa Storie-Avenatti, denied reports that the alleged domestic violence incident pertained to her in a statement to Buzzfeed from her lawyers.

“My client and I have reviewed the TMZ article alleging that my client, Lisa Storie-Avenatti, has been injured and that Michael Avenatti has been arrested as a result of some incident that occurred between them. This article is not true as it pertains to my client,” the statement said. “Ms. Storie-Avenatti was not subject to any such incident on Tuesday night. Further, she was not at Mr. Avenatti’s apartment on the date that this alleged incident occurred. My client states that there has never been domestic violence in her relationship with Michael and that she has never known Michael to be physically violent toward anyone.”

Avenatti has become one of President Donald Trump’s most vocal critics, gaining visibility by representing adult film star Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against Trump over a 2016 hush money payment.

Daniels did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Amid his rising celebrity, Avenatti has also said he’s considered running for president against Trump in 2020. Avenatti, 47, has never held public office.

In August, Avenatti started The Fight PAC, a political action committee that he said would raise money to help fellow Democrats.

A representative for the PAC did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment regarding Avenatti’s arrest.

The lawyer’s presidential ambitions were tested in October amid a slew of troubling headlines. A judged ruled that Avenatti would have to pay his former law partner $4.5 million in back pay. He was also harshly criticized for remarks he made in a Time magazine profile in which he said the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee should be a white man.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, also referred Avenatti and one of his clients, Julie Swetnick, to the FBI for criminal prosecution. Grassley alleged that Avenatti and Swetnick made “materially false statements” about Brett Kavanaugh during the Senate confirmation hearing for the then-Supreme Court nominee.

Earlier Wednesday, The Seattle Times reported that the California State Bar recently cleared Avenatti of claims of professional misconduct during the period when the lawyer ran Tully’s, a Seattle-based coffee chain.

Several people were stabbed in the Australian city of Melbourne on Friday and a man was arrested after an incident in the centre of the city crowded with pedestrians and shoppers. One of the officers raises his weapon, a shot is heard and the man falls to the ground clutching his chest. Victoria’s ambulance service said that three injured people were being treated at the scene. A Reuters witness said that the city centre was closed off by police and that dozens of officers were patrolling. Austr

Several people were stabbed in the Australian city of Melbourne on Friday and a man was arrested after an incident in the centre of the city crowded with pedestrians and shoppers.

“Police initially responded to a report of a car on fire … a man was arrested at the scene and has been taken to hospital under police guard in a critical condition,” Victoria state police said in statement.

“A small number of people are being treated for stab wounds.”

Further details are unclear however video posted to Twitter and broadcast on television showed a man repeatedly swinging an object at two police officers. One of the officers raises his weapon, a shot is heard and the man falls to the ground clutching his chest.

Victoria’s ambulance service said that three injured people were being treated at the scene. A Reuters witness said that the city centre was closed off by police and that dozens of officers were patrolling.

It is not clear if the incident is terror-related. Australia has been on heightened alert from 2015 for attacks by home-grown militants returning from fighting in the Middle East.

The street where the car caught fire was the scene in January 2017 of a fatal but not terror-related incident in which a man drove his car at pedestrians at high speed, killing six people and wounding about 30.

Two people have been injured and one person arrested in an incident in Kensington, central London, according to the U.K.’s Met Police. Early reports showed that armed officers entered the Sony offices on Derry Street, London, on Friday morning, which led to the evacuation of several buildings. The Met Police later confirmed that the incident was not terror related and said one person had been arrested on the scene. “Police were called at approximately 1100hrs on Friday, 2 November to reports of

Two people have been injured and one person arrested in an incident in Kensington, central London, according to the U.K.’s Met Police.

Early reports showed that armed officers entered the Sony offices on Derry Street, London, on Friday morning, which led to the evacuation of several buildings. The Met Police later confirmed that the incident was not terror related and said one person had been arrested on the scene.

“Police were called at approximately 1100hrs on Friday, 2 November to reports of an incident on Derry Street, W8. Officers, including firearms officers, and London Ambulance Service are in attendance,” the police said in a statement.

“Two people have suffered stab injuries — we await an update on their condition. One person has been arrested. No evidence of any firearms involved in this incident.”

Irving Oil confirmed a “major incident” at Canada’s largest refinery following reports of an explosion at the facility, a critical source of fuel for the U.S. Northeast market. The explosion reportedly rocked the neighborhood around the Irving Oil refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick. Irving Oil exports more than half of that supply to the United States. Photos of Irving’s Saint John refinery posted to social media showed flames and black clouds against a blue sky. “We probably import more gaso

Irving Oil confirmed a “major incident” at Canada’s largest refinery following reports of an explosion at the facility, a critical source of fuel for the U.S. Northeast market.

The explosion reportedly rocked the neighborhood around the Irving Oil refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick. It was not immediately clear what facilities at the plant were impacted.

The plant has the capacity to refine 320,000 barrels per day of gasoline, diesel heating oil, jet fuel and other petroleum products. Irving Oil exports more than half of that supply to the United States.

Photos of Irving’s Saint John refinery posted to social media showed flames and black clouds against a blue sky. Residents reported that a blast shook homes.

The refinery employs 1,400 workers and is situated on a 780-acre plot in an area with “thousands” of neighbors, according to Irving Oil’s website.

Irving Oil tweeted that all employees and contractors have been accounted for. Several contractors were being treated for non-life threatening injuries related to the incident, the company said.

Crude oil and gasoline futures moved higher after the reports.

The refinery is likely the most important in terms of fuel imports to the U.S. Northeast market, according to Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis at Oil Price Information Service.

“We probably import more gasoline from that single refinery than any other single refinery around the world,” he said.

In a statement issued last week, when reports first surfaced that there may be such an allegation, Kavanaugh said he “categorically and unequivocally” denied that such an incident took place. Judge, a conservative writer who could not immediately be reached, has also denied that the incident took place. In an interview with The New York Times, Judge said Kavanaugh was a brilliant student who was not “into anything crazy or illegal.” Those session notes, which described the incident but did not m

A woman who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of forcing himself on her during a high school party in the early 1980s has come forward publicly for the first time, detailing the allegation to the The Washington Post, which published her story Sunday.

Speaking to the publication, Christine Blasey Ford, a professor at Palo Alto University, alleges that Kavanaugh, then a student at Georgetown Preparatory School in Maryland, entered a room drunk, pinned her to a bed, and groped her over her clothing. Kavanaugh then attempted to undress her while he and his classmate, Mark Judge, both laughed “maniacally.”

When she tried to scream, Kavanaugh covered her mouth, she said. Ford also told The Post she was concerned that Kavanaugh “might inadvertently kill me. He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing.”

Kavanaugh has flatly denied assaulting anyone during his high school years. In a statement issued last week, when reports first surfaced that there may be such an allegation, Kavanaugh said he “categorically and unequivocally” denied that such an incident took place. “I did not do this back in high school or at any time,” he said. On Sunday, The White House directed NBC News to that denial.

Judge, a conservative writer who could not immediately be reached, has also denied that the incident took place. Judge told The Weekly Standard last week that the accusation was “just absolutely nuts.” In an interview with The New York Times, Judge said Kavanaugh was a brilliant student who was not “into anything crazy or illegal.”

Ford originally hesitated to tell her story, and did not discuss it with anyone until 2012, when she relayed the incident to a therapist. Those session notes, which described the incident but did not mention Kavanaugh by name, were viewed by a Post reporter. They could not be verified immediately by CNBC. Ford decided to come forward now, according to the article, because she wanted to be the one to tell her own story.

Ford engaged a prominent D.C. attorney, Debra Katz, who advised her to take a polygraph test in order to rebuff criticism of her if she came forward. The results of the test, which she took in early August, indicated that Ford was being truthful, according to Post’s reporting.

The new revelation will add pressure on moderate Democrats and some Republicans who are expected to vote in favor of Kavanaugh’s confirmation. Trump’s nominee has been widely expected to sail through thanks to a narrow GOP majority in the Senate, and potential support from three Senate Democrats who voted in favor of Justice Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation last year.

A number of prominent Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the committee reviewing Kavanaugh’s nomination, have called on the confirmation process to be delayed until an investigation can be conducted. Republicans have slammed the timing of the accusation as being politically motivated.

Any hiccup or delay in the confirmation process could send the vote on Kavanaugh to after the November midterms, where it is possible that an unexpected electoral result could strip Republicans of their edge in the Senate.

Egyptian security forces detained a man on Tuesday after an explosive device detonated near the U.S. Embassy in central Cairo, three security sources said. No casualties were reported, the sources said. The man was then thrown to the ground by security forces as the fire was extinguished, the witness said. The U.S. Embassy in Cairo said on its Twitter account that it was aware of a reported incident and asked people to avoid the area. The area was cordoned off by security forces shortly after th

Egyptian security forces detained a man on Tuesday after an explosive device detonated near the U.S. Embassy in central Cairo, three security sources said.

No casualties were reported, the sources said. A witness said she heard a blast and then saw a man with a backpack that had caught on fire close to the Semiramis Hotel, across the road from the embassy premises.

The man was then thrown to the ground by security forces as the fire was extinguished, the witness said.

The U.S. Embassy in Cairo said on its Twitter account that it was aware of a reported incident and asked people to avoid the area.

The area was cordoned off by security forces shortly after the incident and there was an unusually heavy police presence with dozens of officers nearby, Reuters witnesses said.